Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1887-01-29
COPELAND KILLS A E IL
And is Thereby Released from HIS
Vow.
J. B. Copeland in Cr.-okston Journal.

Vow.
J. B. Copeland in Cr..okston Journal.
In all ages mel have been able to rea-.
20 clearer after agood nights rest than
when tired with the days labor. HadI
thought Of this last night, three ghus,ly
individuals woull not have taken that
oath to kill a. deer Or never ga home.
This morning l am able to understand
Just what n task l have INFUSED upon
myself, and iii case Of failure the terri
BILE results which must follow. Already
l have heen ont ten Or twelve DAYS and
no deer yet. The possibility that I NAV
be chasing deer the rest Of my life &c.
ours to me. My wife will he asking for
a divorce OH az. cunt of desertiun; my
children grow up strangers To me. 1t is
too horrible 10 think Of, and 1 don my
clothes and rush frantically down the
stairs. Lord C,utts and the farmer are
at the barn. My morning salutati"n
staggered them. My Lord, W. are the
three greatest idiots III existence Well,
blast my hl.nniy heyes, hut you are
complimentary this morning" "Wnat
Is the matter If you?" saws the farmer,
"Is it l"ss,ble," l inquired, ".hat Meth
er of you have thought "f the possible
cons que,ices If that oa,h?' M. wha,
Of ity Here l drew u picture thar
turned them pale. Silence ens,,ed for n
time and then my lord remarked that
We might rs we'll cheat" our breakfast.
1t Was rather disgusting, yet there was
SO much sense in the remark that We ii.
len,ly started in that direction. Just
before We reached the house | CHANGED
to look "ver the fields adjoining the ho
tel, and il seventeen galvalic batteries
lad leen applied to MT at once could
not have jumped higher. shouted. Gu,
a pigeon wing, turned Il hand spr,ng
and would have cut more ridiculous ca.
pers had not my COMPANIONS grasped
NE with looks Of CONSIDERATION depicted
OH every feature. You think me- crazy.
do you? | sized. Look in that tieli."
"WelI, what is there in that field to turn
q mans mind? Why, those Two tame
deel tied with picket ropes. Well,
what Of them" "D"ht say anything,
boys" L said III a whisper, ''hut if We
do not get any deer ny the Des Laos we
will kill one OF those and thus tie enabled
to return 10 uur families. We all danced
a xan-kan and the amused spectators
thought we had bouz ii t.m freely. After
breakfast we started for til e canyons up
the Des Lacs. Towards its source tli,
river il Il succession Of small lakes,
hence its namt, Des Lacs. meaning river
OF lakes. As far u. as we went the river
has II zigzag course, aud deep canyons
lead oil from either side, finally t-rmin-
ating on the higher prairie. All these
canyons hal been burned. and the old
hills were bald aud %blackened. THIS
valley is very much like the valley Of
the Mouse, and is settled ~ far up rs
the extreme source Of the river. All
the settlers are living in log houses,
homelv hut comfortable. We reached
the house Of Mr.. Wcbner aud sister, and
inquired if there were any deer in the
canyons above them. On receiving al
affirmative answer we made arrange.
ments 10 uul up here, Mr.. Welber and
a young man by the name Of Cory ACT
ing rs guides, and that afternoon We
started Il There were five Of us, and
we hunted the canyons in this manner
Que down in the bottom, one on either
side about half way w the hill and II
little in advance of the man in the lot.
tom, and one OH either side at the ex
treme top ol the hills. In this manner
if II deer got away from It's it would IT,
owing to Our p'"r craftsmanship. Well,
we trudged on w hill and down. through,
brush and "riers, up II canyon and
down another. u, til nearly nightfall.
All ut once ban. vent the old eight gage,
and Mr.. Curry had killed d :awn. An.
other ran out OF the same thicktt, and
We all tried our rifles on it without IF.
feet. The one We had would weigh
about sixty pounds. W. threw it over
the p"ny's back and wen home, oul
hun, ending for that day. We were
very much elateJ over the success 81
the days Snort, it heing the nearest ap'
proacl, to killing Il deer we had had,
That night l figured for two or three
hours, trying to convince myself that
we were relieved from our oath. J
could make out that u fawn was II young
deer, but l had hard work to %convinct
myself that We killed it. 1t was m!
powder and shot and gun, hut Mr.. Car
~ was using it and rs he Was not If the
ghnst!y party it would appear that VT
did not kill the deer and that the tame
ones were still in danger. We conclul
ell to stay and try the can!'ns again thu
following day. After taxing care Of the
horses, we partUnk of buuntiful veni
s,n steak prepared hy Mis- Weller. WI
slept very co,nfnrta lily thL night and
in the murt ing we're again ready Il
start. AS We were driving up the vale,
We saw FIVE anteIoue on the OPPOSITE
slIe 1f lie river and headed in the sam,